


Persephone's Wish

by e_p_hart



Series: Stuff Of Legends [2]
Category: Greek and Roman Mythology
Genre: Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-01
Updated: 2014-09-01
Packaged: 2018-02-15 15:58:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2234901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/e_p_hart/pseuds/e_p_hart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Be careful what you wish for, they always say. You just might get it. </p><p>But it would have to be better than this, you think.</p><p>Your mother, wafting flowers hither and thither,<br/>Gently beckoning green from tilled earth, while<br/>You follow slowly behind, powerless and unskilled,<br/>Ignored.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Persephone's Wish

Be careful what you wish for, they always say. You just might get it.  
  
But it would have to be better than this, you think.  
  
Your mother, wafting flowers hither and thither,  
Gently beckoning green from tilled earth, while  
You follow slowly behind, powerless and unskilled,  
Ignored.  
  
Ignored. Which is more interesting,  
your own powers or a daughter who has none?  
  
She hardly remembers you exist.  
  
The mortals glance at you as you stumble in your mother’s wake,  
Crushing fruits and bruising petals beneath your dirt-streaked feet.  
Pausing to rest on a bench, the green vines brush your skirt  
As they turn like sunflowers toward your mother’s warm power.  
  
It becomes tiresome, and lonely, and despite the warnings,  
You begin to wish for something to change.  
  
 _notice me notice me notice me_  
  
Someone notices you, all right.  
Stern Hades, king of Hell,  
Your uncle twice over.  
He sees you.  
(but does he see _you_?)  
  
And one day when you’re dawdling along as usual,  
Nothing out of the ordinary except for a sudden fall--  
And down beneath the earth, away from the light,  
Away from the flowers and the plants and everything you know--  
Down you go.  
  
Hell is cold, and shadowed, and you love it.  
Though Hades is your uncle, no one ever thought to take you to visit.  
He plies you with pretty things and words and walks the halls of still darkness  
With an arm curled around your shoulders, mussing your hair,  
Whispering promises into your ear.  
  
It wouldn’t matter what he actually said.  
All that matters is that he’s saying it to you  
While he looks at you, and that he waits for your response.  
  
You soak it in,  
Reveling in the attention.  
You could grow to love him, you think,  
As you already love Hell, cool and safe and quiet,  
Full of knowledge and steady power you’ve learned to use.    
  
Night after night of banquets and balls in your honor,  
And you’re so hungry for it.  
  
You eat it up.  
  
So when you hear word that your mother is looking for you,  
That she made the earth barren in her loss,  
The idea comes to you in a flash, and you finally give in,  
Pick up the pomegranate,  
And defiantly eat six seeds.  
  
It’s enough.  
  
Now you have all the attention you want:  
Your mother crushes your to her breast and asks your opinion  
While you slowly cause the flowers in her hair to blacken,  
And Hades with his cold clever hands and dark eyes,  
Ever thoughtful and devoted, glad to have you back.  
  
You’re always glad to go.  



End file.
